Katie Holmes’ nickname among friends was “Dead Eye’’ — an unflattering euphemism for the blank stare that’s glazed the starlet’s face since she was embedded as wife No. 3 to No. 1 Scientologist Tom Cruise.

At the same time, Tom and Katie’s 6-year-old daughter, Suri, was growing into a shopaholic beast.

Suri was so spoiled by parents who didn’t know the meaning of “No,’’ the child was frequently photographed carried by her mom whenever she threw a fit, which was often. At age 4, she had her own iPad, though she was not yet literate.

At 5, Suri still sucked on a pacifier. And by 3, she’d grown so fixated on arch-crunching high heels by Marc Jacobs, which she even wore to the beach, the value of the child’s shoe collection reached an unseemly $150,000. To dry her tears, Katie ordered Suri a custom-made pair of tot-sized Christian Louboutins.

She was never seen with friends her age.

It could have gone on this way until Suri filed for Social Security benefits. But Katie, 33, risked her cushy lifestyle, and possibly her safety, to launch an exit strategy from her loopy marriage to a religious fanatic — some critics say cult worshipper — who just turned 50. She did it for the oldest of reasons:

Katie was hellbent on protecting her kid.

In Hollywood, divorces are more common than sex-change operations. But as Andrew Morton reported in his excellent book “Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography,’’ Katie won an “audition’’ for the role of Tom’s third wife. But recently, she feared Tom was angling to bury Suri to the neck in Scientology, the faith invented by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

Now, Katie has done more than rescue her flesh and blood from the clutches of a disturbed dad, and from a church she has grown to despise. She has revealed to the world the dark and icky side of Scientology, a faith that could thrive only in Hollywood.

She waited until Tom was filming a movie in remote Iceland before filing for divorce in Manhattan. It’s a no-nonsense place where she has a shot at keeping her daughter from Tom, a guy who had the gall to publicly ridicule Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants for the baby blues.

I never thought she had it in her.

When Hubbard died in 1986, the church of Scientology announced that he had discarded his physical body and was “on a planet a galaxy away.’’ In life, Hubbard taught that Xenu, the ruler of the Galactic Confederacy, brought billions of frozen people to Earth 75 million years ago, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. A human is an immortal spiritual being — a thetan — trapped on the planet in a “meat body.’’ Some of this knowledge is divulged only to high-level Scientologists.

If I’m simplifying the secret teachings, forgive me. The faith is even stranger than I have space to elaborate. This may explain why celebs from John Travolta to Kirstie Alley have taken to Scientology like strippers to a pole.

Katie took a gamble and fled, terrified that her hub was prepared to ship his progeny to Scientology’s Sea Organization, where, reportedly, children as young as 5 learn to be Dead Eyes before their time.

What kind of religion employs armed, SUV-sitting goons, which Katie feared were sent by the church, to keep tabs on the movements of the church’s best-known escaped hostage?

Katie bravely emerged on the streets of Manhattan this week, on her way to tape “Project Runway: All Stars.’’ She was flanked by a pack of burly bodyguards.

It took more than five years. But better late than never, Katie Holmes has become the most dangerous foe a twisted spouse can face:

She’s a mother.

Run, Katie run.

Baldwin bares O.J. fantasies

Is Alec Baldwin threatening to become the next O.J. Simpson?

The raging newlywed revealed that he’s wanted to kill the lawyer of ex-wife Kim Basinger “with a baseball bat.’’ Baldwin also had murderous impulses toward the founder of celebrity Web site TMZ, Harvey Levin.

“I wanted to stick a knife in him and gut him and kill him, and I wanted him to die breathing his last breath looking into my eyes,’’ Baldwin told Vanity Fair.

Despite evidence to the contrary, Baldwin claims he no longer harbors an urge to bully people half his size. “You have to let that go. Enough time — I mean, it does heal wounds,’’ he told the mag.

After incessantly stalking me on Twitter, Baldwin, 54, last weekend gave up and married 28-year-old yogi Hilaria Thomas. It didn’t stop the crotchety love-of-my-life from partaking in an orgy of pre-wedding photographer bashing.

Now, too late, he’s quitting Twitter.

Oh, Alec! Please get off that no-sugar, booze-free diet to which Hilaria has you chained. It would put me in a rampage, too.

Mel’s act getting old

What a shock. Mel Gibson’s stepmother has filed a restraining order against her angry stepson.

CNN could always hire Ann Curry, who was scapegoated for the “Today’’ show’s ratings dip, then fire her.

Time to face reality. Viewers can get all the leftist propaganda they need elsewhere.

Sheik-down street

Qatar Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani has two wives, 15 children, a long name and an armed security detail. Now, he’s poised to plunk down nearly $100 million for the city’s priciest condominium duplex penthouse, across the street from Carnegie Hall, after several spooked co-op boards rejected him.